(This article has been reposted with minor revisions from the author's blog. Access Part 1 and Part 2)

How Coronavirus Has Accelerated Our Thought Processes

When businesses resumed operations after having been forced to remain shut during lockdowns in 2020, they woke up to the kind of belt-tightening they could do by increasing their dependence on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and many other technological advances. Many digital czars see the pandemic accelerating tech-trends in the long run, driving social good. The future portends enlarging the scope of technology in such diverse realms as education, health, security, agriculture, river management and the like.

Cheer-bots and Bot-dogs have started brightening up life for sports persons and patients. In Japan, in stadiums bereft of human presence, robot cheerleaders have perked up players on the field. Robotic priests have started popping up in Buddhist temples. Therapy dogs have started spreading sweetness and light amongst patients.

Large companies which place a premium on employee goodwill have responded by hiking salaries, promoting good performers and facilitating work-from-home. Quite a few others have had no other option but to resort to issuing pink slips and giving people a compulsory break from work. Some have slashed salaries temporarily so as to manage their cash flows better.

What the virus has thrown up is a challenge to human beings to live, work and become smarter; to respect Nature and Environment better and to focus on being sustainable. It has prodded us in the ribs to be more flexible in our thinking and to expect the unexpected. It has brought home the basic truth that all of us need to acquire newer skill-sets and that we need to review our life-priorities and focus on what is essential. In other words, it opened up new windows for our species to evolve faster. 

This leads us to the term ‘Stakeholder Capitalism’ coined by R Edward Freeman and his son Ben Freeman. One of the tenets of their concept is that ‘Businesses must be mindful of humanity and economics’.

Lord Krishna May Be Able to Help

When compared to human beings, machines tend to be far more objective in their approach to things. Humans have the luxury of wallowing in self-pity and being attached to objects and people. Machines cannot afford luxuries of this kind. Thus, when it comes to machines and algorithms, several tips dished out by Lord Krishna become irrelevant. But for human beings who have to interact with machines and have to ensure that these are programmed along ethical and moral lines, life shall surely pose different kinds of challenges.

Unlike the Ramayana which speaks of Ram Rajya and Thirukkural which elaborates upon the duties of a king, the Bhagavad Gita does not directly address such issues as the manner in which either businesses or governments need to be run. Nor does it directly touch upon the subject of taking better care of human resources – a key factor in management. Yes, when it places a premium on work being done with benign motives, it hints at the desirability of getting work done with malice towards none. The scripture is primarily focused on the need to do one’s duty with a sense of detachment and equanimity.

Let us consider the kind of indirect clues it offers which could perhaps be of some use to CEOs and managers who are trying to grapple with the challenges posed by rapid advances in technology.

 The Promise of Saatvic Actions

To recapitulate what we had observed in Chapter 33, Saatvic actions comprise work which is taken up for work’s own sake, in an attitude that work itself is worship. Actions performed in a spirit of inspiration and with benign motivation would fall in this category. So would actions which are propelled neither by love nor by hate. These are acts of grace which are not acts of obligation. These are not actions arising out of one’s likes and dislikes.

 

 The assigned action which is done without attachment, attraction (or) repulsion and without clinging to (its) fruit that is called ‘Sattvic’. (18.23)

 

Business leaders who mostly operate at the Rajasic plane, if they were to consider working in this manner, the issue of wrong motives – whether at the development or at the implementation stage – would not come up. Eventually, they would end up steering their business along sustainable lines.

 

The Perils of Rajasic and Tamasic Actions

However, machines have severe limitations. Those who shop or eat out at restaurants soon start missing the smile of a charming salesperson or the kind of fuss that a human waiter could make over a customer. Irate customers who call a company to register their anger about some deficiency in service are further put off when they are greeted by an auto-response system which prompts them to go through several cycles of 1 to 9 button punching. Poor machines cannot compare the uncomparables/unquantifiables. Hence, these cannot advise CEOs on choosing between profitability and human safety.

Machines could therefore assist at either the Rajasic or the Tamasic levels of actions. Lord Krishna cautions that such actions eventually lead to problems.

 

कर्मण: सुकृतस्याहु: सात्विकं निर्मलं फलम् |
रजसस्तु फलं दु:खमज्ञानं तमस: फलम् || 14.16||

 

The fruit of virtuous action is said to be Sattvic and pure; the fruit of Rajasic action is sorrow; ignorance is the fruit of Tamas.

 

Overcoming Leadership Deficit

In Chapter 29, we had spoken of the fact that the responsibility on the shoulders of a leader is rather heavy. She has to walk the talk and set an example for others to follow. If she herself is prone to using her expense account to accommodate outings for her loved ones, others will lose no time to sniff it out and follow in her footsteps.

  

Whatsoever a noble man does, the very same is also done by other men. Whatever standard he sets, the world follows it. (3.21)

 

The Pink Slip syndrome

For someone who ends up getting a pink slip all of a sudden due to the organization having adopted a newer set of technologies could find that the Bhagavad Gita has already highlighted the importance of one doing work skilfully and sincerely, thereby pursuing excellence.

  

But he who, controlling the senses with the mind, without attachment engages the organs of action in the Yoga of action, he excels, O Arjuna. (3.7)

 

It exhorts one to not overtly fall for the temptation of the senses which get continuously exposed to the delectable offerings of life – pleasures of the table, inclination for a variety of amorous endeavours, addiction with social media, and the like.

Keeping one’s desires under check and avoiding undue intoxication with power and pelf is another crucial idea that it recommends. It advises one to not live a life of delusion which makes one undertake a perennial but futile search for an everlasting pampering of one’s ego. Practising equanimity and being steady inside is highly recommended. So are regular meditative practices.

In Praise of Self Control

The Bhagavad Gita does not recommend a boring, listless and monochromatic life to a spiritual aspirant. It merely says not to get swayed by the temptations of life and to gratify one’s senses and fulfil one’s desires with a strict sense of moderation. Self-control is the key word. In case a confrontation comes about, empathy and the ability to put oneself in the shoes of the other person is spoken of. 

 

A lamp which does not flicker in a windless place, to such is compared the Yogi of a disciplined mind who remains steady in meditation on the Self. (6.19)

 

The Need for Leaders with a Higher Spiritual Quotient

 

All of these are proactive measures which could enable a CEO to scale greater heights in her career, delivering results with greater efficiency and aplomb. These are not quick-fixes. Instead, these are long-term solutions which have the potential of enabling one to not only face the challenges of technological advancement but also to utilize technology to the best of one’s advantage, rather than becoming a slave to it.

We had touched upon the traits of leaders with a high Spiritual Quotient in Chapter 43.

The future would obviously see a much higher demand for business leaders whose heads are screwed on right and who take decisions using not only a Commercial Compass but also a Spiritual one, guided by the values of the organization. Several companies already have Chief Ethics Officers. Those who have thrived in such roles are the ones who have enjoyed support from the very top.

Of Jackals, Cobras, Giraffes, Elephants and Tortoises

To run a business well, wily jackals and cobras are required, but so are friendly giraffes, elephants and tortoises. In the days to come, conscious managements would do well to assign the role of Conscience Keepers to any competent and willing full-time director on the board who would keep the business afloat without running into a collision with massive icebergs of targets which involve a hidden mass of compromise on core values and ethics. A culture of encouraging dissent and listening to whistle-blowers would also help in a business being steered right.

 

(Inputs from experts in IT, management, Gita and aviation are gratefully acknowledged.)

 

Ashok Kumar Bhatia is a management professional. He is an author of management books. The article reproduced here is planned to be a part of his yet-to-be-published book which connects the realm of management with some of the basic tenets of Bhagavad Gita. 

He is also an avid blogger and a globe trotter, and loves to share his wisdom with younger and brighter minds. He has addressed management professionals and aspirants not only at premium institutes in India but also in USA, Portugal and Finland. His articles on P G Wodehouse, management, movies and life in general can be found at www.ashokbhatia.wordpress.com.

 Picture Credits: Arnab Dutta via Wikimedia Commons

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